What You Are
by Elenea Galad
Summary: A series of drabbles pertaining to the partnership between Itachi and Kisame. Suggestions welcome.
1. Chapter 1

**Pre-AN #1: **This is a series of drabbles about the relationship between Itachi and Kisame and while I support them on a romantic level, none of these drabbles are explicitly yaoi. Ideas for drabbles can be submitted via review and taken into consideration.

**Pre-AN #2: **'Hajimemashite' is the Japanese equivalent of 'Nice to meet you."

* * *

Chapter 1: Hajimemashite

The rain was pouring down when the young shinobi slammed into the small hut on the border of the Water and Fire Country. He laughed as he caught his breath, leaning against the door grinning. They'd be coming for him soon.

A drop of water fell on him and he blinked in surprise. He'd carefully checked this house. It had no leaks. His head almost instantly rose a second later and he found himself staring into a pair of eyes that managed to be blacker than the shadows around them.

He would've stepped back and fallen into a defensive stance but the door was right behind him. His balance was lost and he struggled to maintain his stance, tripping on his sword but finally he managed to get turned around and the sword up to guard.

The unknown shinobi hadn't moved half an inch during this display. The swordsmen stared at him, confused.

"Aren't you going to try and kill me?"

"Why?"

The man's voice was strange…very hard to describe. He couldn't come up with a word for it.

"You're not from Kirigakure?"

"No."

He shouldered the sword and placed his free hand on his hip, glaring at the man in the rafters.

"So when did you get here?"

He'd scoped out the house for several days before his strike against the Mizukage. No one had come or gone.

"Three seconds after you."

His eyes widened slightly. He hadn't heard a thing, hadn't sensed anyone nearby. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized that the shinobi was simply lounging as he was interrogated, stretched out prone in the loft. The tiniest bit of moonlight glinted off his blacker than black eyes and sent shivers down his spine.

He also looked to be maybe thirteen or fourteen years old and carried a scent of old blood.

The boy's gaze flicked to the door and several seconds later he heard the cries of the men following him and grinned.

"You better take off. They're after me 'cause I tried to assassinate the Mizukage. Assholes. I've got a thing against organized society, how shinobi are supposed to be tools and not people? Really grates on my nerves. But they probably won't look too kindly on you for not trying to kill me."

He turned towards the door and heard the boy drop from the rafters. Good, he was leaving.

"Tried?"

He blinked and found the boy by his side. Brat barely reached his shoulder but emanated a presence of a person far larger than him.

"What are you insinuating, boy?"

The boy raised his head and met his gaze. His eyes weren't black anymore, they were red. He then turned and walked back out into the rain.

The would-be assassin followed him and watched the horde of Mist ninja coming towards them.

"Get going, brat. We can't take 'em all."

The boy made no sound but watched the men arrive.

He had a new Suiton jutsu that was perfect for this rainy day. However, it was also suicidal. If the brat wouldn't leave then so be it.

The boy watched his hands as he formed several seals but froze as the boy's hand stopped the seal formation, resting on his own.

"No need for that." He said calmly then was gone.

In an instant, the boy crossed two hundreds yards and decapitated a running Mist-nin before the man knew what was coming. The assassin shouldered his blade and ran into the fray.

It took them less than an hour to pick off all the stragglers. The boy now glared at him over the fire, the two of them huddled in the house. He'd been soaked by a misfired Suiton jutsu and was now wrapped only in one of the spare blankets hoarded away earlier. His clothes hung on a chair to dry.

"Why'd you help me?" He asked.

"We've done the same thing."

He paused in ringing out his pants and stared at the shivering boy who continued to glare at him for a moment before lowering his gaze to the fire.

"I'm Hoshigaki Kisame."

The boy continued to stare into the fire and several minutes passed with no response. Kisame wondered if he'd made the mistake of thinking they might be able to get along.

"Itachi."

Kisame blinked in surprise and turned his head to find the boy looking at him once again.

"Come again?"

"Itachi. My name is Uchiha Itachi."

The former Mist-nin smiled and went back to hanging up his clothes to dry.

"Hajimemashite, Uchiha Itachi."

Itachi blinked slowly and returned to staring at the fire.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Honesty**

Kisame stared at the bags he was supposed to carry and glared at the smaller shinobi sitting in a tree about eighteen feet above him.

"Why do I have to carry everything?"

The Uchiha blinked and looked down at him.

"You already carry that useless nodachi. Why not a few more bags?"

Kisame growled. "He is not useless and stop calling him 'nodachi!" It's Samehada, ass!"

He growled again when Itachi made no sign of hearing him, still staring at him with that blank look of his that implied the bastard knew something he didn't and had no intentions of sharing it.

"Arrogant son of a…" Kisame mumbled as he hauled the packs over his shoulders, shifting Samehada so it wasn't digging into his back too uncomfortably.

"And why do we have two bags of food?"

"One is full of fish and the other is my food."

"Why can't you eat fish?"

"I don't eat meat."

Kisame sighed. "Come on, everybody eats meat."

Itachi didn't respond, merely jumped down and landed beside him. He'd obviously deemed the conversation over and began walking down the path before them without looking back. Kisame wondered why he'd chosen the stiff Uchiha as a companion. Then again, it hadn't been much of a decision. They just met that one night and when they woke up the next morning, it had been as if they'd known each other all time.

Except he knew absolutely nothing about the prick before him except his name.

Itachi turned and watched him hustle to catch up. Kisame watched him as his companion actually closed his eyes as he walked, as if he could see without them.

* * *

They walked for a few hours before Kisame got pissed and veered off the path, heading towards a nearby village to rest. Itachi watched him for a moment before he followed. He stopped just outside the village and sat down on a rocky outcrop to wait. In the meantime, he picked up his bag of food that he had so carefully retrieved from Kisame while the moody shark was preoccupied and pulled out an apple.

This village was far enough away from the Mist village to not know that he was a wanted criminal but it seemed the people were buzzing with another source of gossip. As much as Kisame wanted to see the reactions of the village to their Mizukage's near assassination, he picked up a local paper to check out what was overshadowing his fame.

* * *

Itachi blinked over his apple as Kisame jogged towards him, waving a report over his head.

"Hey Itachi! It's all over everywhere. Your clan got its ass beat. They're all dead."

Itachi blinked again, albeit much slower. Was he really serious?

"All right."

Kisame blinked in surprise. "'All right?' That's it? You're not upset or depressed or anything?"

"Should I be?"

Kisame shrugged unenthusiastically. "Well, you could be depressed and I could say something encouraging like 'It's not your fault they died. It's not like you killed them."

Itachi blinked slowly, the tiniest upturn of his mouth just barely visible over the apple.

"Actually, it _is_ like that."

They stared at each other for several minutes, both with unreadable expressions on their faces until Kisame turned and sat down on the rock beside him. The silence went on for a while until Itachi finished his apple and tossed the core away.

A rabbit came out from under a shrub, picked up the core, and disappeared with it.

"Damn," Kisame finally said.

Itachi didn't react. Well, maybe he did, but Kisame couldn't tell the minute differences in his facial expressions yet. To him, they all looked the same.

He suddenly felt very overwhelmed. He'd failed to assassinate the Mizukage and here this little kid had assassinated his entire clan. And he was an Uchiha. They were supposed to be something amazing.

"I'll bet you don't know as many Suiton jutsus as I do."

Itachi turned his head slightly, viewing Kisame out of the corner of his eye.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't know any."

"Who says I need to be made to feel better?"

Itachi shrugged and looked away again. Kisame sighed.

"We're going to have to be more honest with each other."

Itachi sniffed at the concept then said with a perfectly straight face.

"I've kissed a guy before."

"NOT THAT HONEST!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Drunkeness**

* * *

Kisame had only ever been drunk once and afterwards, vowed never to do so again. The mere smell of alcohol made all the feelings of nausea come back. Besides, it was bad for a shinobi not to be able to control one's movements.

He didn't know why he'd suddenly begun thinking about alcohol. He supposed it fell back on the fact that he had to entertain himself most of the time and he'd gotten tired of trying to decipher what was going on behind those Uchiha eyes. Which were closed right now, and that was the problem.

It had been almost a year since they'd taken up the road together and this was the first time Kisame had caught Itachi asleep. Every day, without fail, for the past year whenever Kisame woke, Itachi was already awake. Whether he was outside prepping for the day, inside making breakfast, or sometimes just sitting on his bedding, staring at some poor piece of wood that managed to offend him…but he was always awake.

Oh, and there was the strong smell of alcohol as well.

On a whim, Kisame stood and watched Itachi flinch slightly at the sound of his movement. He crossed the single room of the meager shack they were staying in and jerked his shirt off the window. At the sudden light, Itachi groaned and rolled over, pulling his blanket over his head.

Well, that proved it. He had a 14-year old with a hangover.

**"Okay, where'd you get it?"**

Silence followed as was normal. **"Don't ignore me, brat."**

That earned him a glare. He knew it was dangerous water calling the Uchiha "brat." Why was he suddenly identifying with his father?

**"Where. Did. You. Get. It?"**

**"Get what?"** Itachi snapped, as if in a hurry to shut him up.

**"That alcohol, that's what."**

**"I don't know what you're talking about."**

Kisame huffed. **"You damn well do. You reek of alcohol and you're hungover."**

**"Fuck you."**

Scowling, Kisame stalked out of the shack and up the nearby hill. They were in a tiny shack in the middle of nowhere. Itachi insisted on staying as far away from other people as possible. It was always like he was running from something but Kisame had no idea who or what. They were on the opposite side of the world from Konaha, there was no reason why Itachi should be so determined.

So _where_ was he getting alcohol from?

By the time Itachi got out of bed an hour later, Kisame had decided he would follow him that night to see what happened. Now the boy showed no signs of a hangover and didn't acknowledge their previous conversation except for a lightning quick glance at Kisame. Kisame carefully kept his face blank.

Itachi sat down next to the fire he built, combing through his hair with his fingers.

**"You should cut that."**

Itachi didn't respond except to keep combing out his hair before pulling it up into a quick ponytail.

**"Are we going to train this morning or no?"** said Itachi's retreating form. Kisame scowled, wondering if he'd still be beaten when the kid was drunk.

* * *

Night came fast without much warning and Kisame knew the easiest way to feign sleep was to fall asleep. He'd long ago perfected a light sleep that kept him mostly aware of his surroundings. Still, he didn't notice when the Uchiha got up and left.

**"Dammit,"** he hissed, sliding to his feet and glancing out into the darkness. He could just sense the Uchiha moving north. And fast. Damn, that kid was fast.

He took off running, moving as silently as he could through the trees, both trying to catch up to Itachi and stay back. He lost the trail several times but always came back to it. Even so, Itachi had a good two hour head start by the time he reached the village.

It wasn't even really a village that he came to but two inns and a bar, a rest stop for weary travelers. He checked the bar first, naturally, but no one had seen Itachi and the barkeeper was pissed that Kisame though he would sell sake to a child. But Kisame knew he had to be getting it from somewhere.

That was when he heard the Uchiha's voice, using a tone he didn't know the brat could make. He slipped down a side alley to see a small group in the courtyard of an inn. Several men, most likely nobles or high-ranking soldiers, all entertaining the women of their choice as they sat in a circle; Itachi was leaning against the side of one, openly flirting as the man held a shot up for him, Itachi taking it expertly from his hand.

Kisame growled and stalked forward, wrapping an arm around the Uchiha's chest and hauled him up. He had a good two feet and hundred pounds on the brat so it was easy just to tuck him under his arm. Until he started fighting back.

**"What the hell, Hoshigake!"**

The kicks and elbows hurt but not as much as his pride at being pounded by a drunk 14-year old.

**"I'm saving you from a perverted pedophile!"**

**"How do I know you're not a perverted pedophile!"**

Itachi bit and scratched at him, a swirling hellcat determined to regain his freedom. Kisame was too pissed off to let him go, wrapping both arms around him in an attempt to pin his arms. Suddenly, Itachi went limp in his arms. Kisame hesitated, not sure if this was an escape tactic or something else.

The sobs decided it.

Kisame sighed and got an arm beneath Itachi's legs, cradling him against his chest as the boy sobbed into his shoulder.

**"It's ok, kid, but you need to stop this,"** Kisame said, trying to sound gentle.

Itachi wrapped his arms around his neck and Kisame stopped dead in the street. Itachi didn't acknowledge his sudden stop or his words but Kisame felt his heart pounding. It was the first time Itachi had ever touched him. Sure, he'd grabbed the Uchiha dozens of times and almost always earned a twisted wrist or a glare for it. But Itachi had never reached out for him.

**"I want to go home, Kisame,"** came the barest whisper just next to his ear.

Kisame shifted the boy's weight and started walking again.

**"Yeah, me too, kid. Me too."**


End file.
